Buzz Help - Quickstart
 
Setting up Buzz
 
First you must setup the proper waveout device.
 

1. Go to View > Preferences
2. Select the desired device from the list.
For windows 9x, choose DirectX Sound Driver out.
For Windows NT, choose Windows Waveform Audio.
3. You may need to configure it by pressing the Config button.
 
You can test your setup by loading the demo tune (under \buzz\songs) and pressing the Play Button (F5)
 
 
 
 
 
 
General Buzz concept
 
The main idea behind Buzz is you have machines which interconnect as modules, and produce sound.
Machines can either generate or modify sound.
 
- Generators, simply enough, generate sound (like 303 style bass, or tracker, which is like a sample based tracker.)
- Effects modify the generated sound (like reverb, delay, flange, etc.)
 
To create a new machine click on the View Machines button (F3), right click on the background, and select the machine you wish to create from the popup list.
For the purpose of learning Buzz, select the Jeskola Bass 3 from the list. (Generators>Synthesis>Bassline>Jeskola Bass 3)
 
Connecting machines
 
Now that you have a new machine, you must connect it to the existing master machine - forming an audio chain to the output.
To connect machines, hold down shift and drag a line from the source machine to the destination machine.
 
 

Notes to Remember

1. All machines must be connected to the master machine either directly or indirectly (by linking through effects) to produce a sound.
2. You cannot have anything trying to go into a generator.
3. An Effect cannot start a chain. It needs input to modulate.
4. You can have many generators going into the same effects machine and likewise many machines going into the master.
5. Any machine connected to the master can have it's panning changed by sliding the little block on the machine itself.
 
Programming the machines
 
Now that you have your machines laid out, you have to program (Add notes, Adjust Parameters, and Sequence) them.
1. Go to the Pattern Editor (F2) and select which machine you wish to create.
2. Then CTRL-ENTER (or Right-click > New Pattern) creates new patterns
 
For those with Tracking experience, the pattern editor works just like a tracker. If you are unfamiliar with tracking you should check out MAZ Sound. It is a tremendous resource for Tracking and Free audio tools.
 
Notice that information about the highlighted field shows up on the status bar at the bottom of the screen, including the description of the current effect in the tracker generator.
 
Most of the parameters in the machines, such as filter cutoff and resonance in the Bass-2 module, can be modified in real-time in the Parameters Dialog.
This can be found by pressing the View Machines button (F3), right clicking on the desired machine, and click on Parameters.
CTRL + creates new tracks in the patterns (just like channels in trackers.)
 
Programming the Bass-2 machine
 
The bass-2 machine is fairly easy.
 
1. You can set the filter cutoff and resonance in the first two columns by entering a number between 00 and 80 (remember, they are in hexadecimal.)
2. Cutoff envelope mod and decay are the next two columns and are the same.
3. Waveform is the shape of the soundwave.
Sine and sawtooth are straightforward. Pulse is a square wave. Triangle is slightly different from sine and noise is, well, noise.
The next column is the note (C-0 thru B-9.) Use the keyboard letter keys to enter notes.
4. Volume is next, again in hexadecimal (actually, all fields are hex except for note fields.) Vol. is 0-80, and 81-FE is 100%-~198% volume amping.

5. The next field, length of note in ticks, is the number of rows the note will play before cutting.
6. The last field is the note slide-to field. If you had C-4 in the note field, 02 in the length field, and C-5 in the slide field, C-4 would play and slide up to C-5 in two ticks.
 
Programming the Tracker machine
 
The Tracker machine is very much like the Bass-2 machine except that instead of generating a wave, it relies on samples, much like regular trackers.
 
1. The first field is tick subdivide. This number is the number of times the effect is processed per row.
2. The next field is the note, explained above in the Bass-2 section.
3. The next number is the wave which will play at the selected note. This number corresponds to the slot with the same number in the Wavetable (F9) section.
You can load samples into these slots by selecting a WAV (only mono-16 bit) or XI from the list on the right (be sure to setup the wav dirs in the preferences menu) and clicking on the << button.
4. The next column is volume, again explained above in the Bass-2 section.
5. The last two are effect number and effect data. These work just like in a tracker.You can find out which effect number is what effect by entering it and looking below at the status bar.
 
All in all, this generator works pretty much like every tracker.
 
Using the Sequence Editor
 
The Sequence Editor (F4) is where you build the tune.You order which pattern should play when for each machine.
The list on the right shows available options for each field in the orderlist.
To create a new track press CTRL-ENTER.
 
F6 sets play position to current row
CTRL-B sets the beginning of the loop (really beginning of song)
CTRL-E once sets the end of the loop, twice sets the end of the song.
CTRL-I inserts a row to all track
CTRL-D deletes a row from all tracks
 
Pressing '.' on an order will set it to (shown as ...) This means nothing new will play, but any currently playing pattern will not be cut.
Pressing ',' will set it to . This will cut any currently playing pattern.
 
Once you have ordered your tune, press the Play Button (F5)
To play your tune from the cursor, press F6
To stop the song, press F8
   

get it on www.buzzmachines.com